silver linings
by ladyoftheknightley
Summary: A collection of Harry/Ginny drabbles, for the 2012 Hogwarts Games. #4: a happy ending, after all
1. christmas, 1998

**silver linings**

He goes back there on Christmas Eve, but this time she comes with him.

The memorial is still in place, and so is the house, but this time, the graffiti is joyful – congratulating and thanking him for what he did. She slips a hand into his and squeezes it, as they look at the statue of the man, the woman and the baby.

His eyes take in his own face, youthful and unscarred. She stares at his mother.

"Do you think she would have liked me?" A whisper.

"She would have loved you, I know."

Then, a kiss, for Christmas.

* * *

_Exactly 100 words, which is surprisingly tough! For the __Shot-Put__ at the __HPFC Olympics__. Not in any way mine, of course. __Please review__._


	2. christmas, 1999

**silver linings**

"What do you mean, you don't want to get married?!"

"I do, I _do _want to marry you," she replies. "But I've been out of school for only a few months, I'm only just eighteen, you're nineteen...we're too young to get married!"

"But your parents married young, and so did mine! And we don't have to get married tomorrow, this is just an engagement ring, a promise. A promise to get married later..." he trails off, looking at her hopefully. He can see the Christmas lights reflected in her eyes, and she's still clutching the tinsel wreath she was about to put up when he surprised her with the ring. It should be a perfect picture of domesticity - the loving couple's first Christmas together, but the ring's still in the box, his knee is hurting where he's still leaning on it on the wooden floor and her face is more one of worried sadness than elated happiness.

"Sweetheart, we're not our parents," she sighs. "I love you, you know that. But I'm not ready to get married, and neither are you, yet. It's not like I'm going to dump you and go running off with someone new tomorrow, but...but I'm not ready for this."

He finally rolls back onto his feet, so he's sat on the floor, back against the sofa. She crouches down next to him and pushes her hair out of her eyes. "I love you, Harry James Potter. And I promise to wait for you. But I can't promise to marry you just yet."

He doesn't fully understand why she feels the way she does. He knows she loves him, as he loves her, and he doesn't quite grasp why she thinks they need to wait when they can get married tomorrow if they feel like it. But he knows he'll do anything to make her happy, and so if she wants to wait, he'll wait, too.

"It's okay," he says.

"I love you," she replies.

"You are always my silver lining," he says, and she laughs softly, remembering. "I can wait for you, if you need me to."

She doesn't reply, instead snuggling into his side and resting her head on his shoulder. He thinks, then, that he would wait until the end of time if she asked him to.

* * *

_For the __Shot-Put__ at the __HPFC Olympics and the 100 Characters Competition using prompt #57 (promise)__. No judgement to anyone who gets married/engaged at a young age; I just don't feel like it's something Ginny would do. Not in any way mine, of course. __Please review__._


	3. christmas, 2000

**silver linings**

* * *

She's doing some Christmas decorating when there's a knock at the door, and she opens it, still clutching the tinsel she was about to drape around the mantelpiece, to find Bill on the step. She can tell by his face that something's wrong – very wrong – and before he's even opened his mouth, she asks, "It's Harry, isn't it?". He nods, and he leans forward as if to steady her, but she doesn't even sway.

Instead, he stands firm and resolute in her Harpies kit from earlier, and asks what happened.

"Ron won't tell me – I don't think he can. Something to do with work, I guess. He saw Harry to St. Mungo's, apparated to Gringotts to get me to tell you, and he's gone to find Hermione. He said he'd meet us at the hospital..." Bill says.

"Right," she nods. _She won't crumble, she won't break. _"Has someone told Mum and Dad?"

"Not yet, though Fleur's standing by just in case," he says. "We thought it best not to worry them until we know exactly how serious it is; you know what Mum's been like since Fred—the war," he finishes, hastily correcting his mistake.

"Better get to the hospital, then," she mumbles, and turns on her heel. Bill follows a split-second later.

When they arrive inside the main entrance of St. Mungo's, she doesn't bother with the welcome desk and heads straight on up to the wards – she's been here enough times now to know where the special ward they reserve for Auror injuries is. Bill follows her, and even though he easily has a foot on his little sister's height, he's still almost jogging to keep up. At the end of a dimly lit corridor, she pushes on a door, but it doesn't open. He hears her swear under her breath, then pull out her wand and try _Alohamora_ but this doesn't work either, and the door remains firmly shut and locked.

"Excuse me?" calls a voice behind them, and Bill turns to see a Healer hurrying towards them. "What are you doing?"

"Harry!" Ginny says. "I'm here to see Harry. Auror Potter."

"I'm afraid that won't be possible," the Healer says, and Bill watches as his baby sister turns white.

He takes a step towards her. "Is his...are his injuries so bad that he...that I...?" she trails off, unable even to formulate _that_ thought into a coherent sentence.

"I cannot give out any information about Mr. Potter's medical condition, nor allow entrance onto the ward, to anyone who is not his next of kin or member of the Auror Department," the Healer says in clipped tones. "Now, if you could both go and wait down in the—"

"But I'm his _girlfriend_! We've been together since I was _fifteen_!" Ginny explodes, and Bill winces, sensing the Bat-Bogey Hexes that are likely to start at any moment.

"Only Mr. Potter's wife or other next of kin can—"

"He doesn't have a bloody wife!" she shouts. "And he's _Harry Potter _– all his relatives are _dead_!"

"Madam, if you can't control yourself I'm afraid you'll be asked to leave the premises and—"

"Ron!" Bill's never been so glad to see his youngest brother in his life.

"Excuse me, Healer Davenport, Auror Ron Weasley reporting here," Ron says, handing the Healer a very official looking sealed envelope. "Instructions from the Minister himself." The Healer opens the envelope, purses his lips slight in response to its contents, then beckons them forward.

"You can all follow me," he says, sounding reluctant. As they follow him into the ward, Bill sees Ginny ask Hermione what's going on, but the other woman knows nothing. They make a motley bunch, he thinks – he and Hermione are both in official work robes; Ginny's in sweatpants still clutching her tinsel and Ron's covered in caked on mud and blood, and has a big rip in his cloak.

"Do you know anything more? Should we get Mum and Dad?" he asks, trying to keep his voice low, but Ginny overhears anyway.

Ron shakes his head, breathing out heavily and Hermione moves next to him, rubbing the small of his back tenderly. "No one saw what hit him, but when we turned around, he was unconscious on the ground – still breathing though, and no visible injuries. We got most of the suspects into custody, but we can't tell who's spell hit him, and so _Priori Incantatem_'s no good..." he says.

Just as he finishes, a Healer walks out of a side door, a broad smile on her face.

"Susan!" cry Hermione and Ron, and Ginny leaps over to her.

"Is he—"

"He's going to be fine," the young woman says cheerfully. "He was hit by six stunners in the chest – I know, I know, but he's young and fit and we've checked to make sure there won't be any long term damage. We'll keep him in for observation overnight, but he will be fine, I promise. He's just coming round now."

Hermione buries her face in Ron's arms, and he strokes her hair as he laughs out loud with relief. Bill watches Ginny as she clutches the Healer's hands, and the two women exchange murmured words he can't hear, but can sense the relief in.

"One of you can go in and see him now – as long as you don't excite him," the Healer says, and everyone looks expectantly at Ginny. She is led through the side door, and the three of them in the waiting room exchange amused glances as they hear Harry's nervous voice saying "I can explain everything, Ginny!"

"He'd better have a good explanation for Robards – though actually, if there's any left of him after she gets through with him for all the worry he caused us, it'll be a miracle," Ron says, and Hermione laughs.

"Oh, don't worry. You don't have to explain _anything_," Ginny says, in an overly-sweet tone. "Instead, you're going to marry me at the first available opportunity, you hear?"

"Wha—?" Harry says, shock evident in his tone.

"I am _not_ being locked out again when I come to see you in hospital. So, buy me a ring, or say goodbye," she replies.

"I—yes. I mean. Yes, I'll get a ring. I have one already—I mean. Yes. Merlin. Yes!" says Harry.

"Good," says Ginny, in clipped tones, and then they're laughing and crying and talking together as the other three share shocked glances.

"Oh my God!" Hermione says, and Ron gives a shocked – but pleased – laugh. Only Bill looks downcast. "What's wrong?" asks Hermione, noticing his expression.

"Mum," he says, and they stare at him quizzically. "She's got to plan _Ginny's wedding_ to _Harry Potter_. She's going to be insufferable!"

"You're right," Ron says, looking worried. "Hmm. Do you think we can persuade them to elope?!"

* * *

_Also for: the __Holiday Spirit Boot Camp Competition__ using prompt #41, tinsel and the __100 Characters Competition __using prompt #19, locked._


	4. christmas, 2001

**silver linings**

* * *

"Is everything alright, Mrs. Potter?"

"I...yes," Mrs. Potter replies hesitantly. Her husband frowns.

"Then why the long face?" he asks. "Christmas not to your satisfaction?" he adds, a twinkle in his eye.

"Oh no - I think I've been a very lucky girly with all my presents this year," she says, "and the meal was divine. I just..."

"Something feels not quite right, doesn't it?" he asks, and she looks at him in relief.

"Thank Merlin it's not just me who feels that way," she says, as he sinks down in the overstuffed sofa beside her. "There's _definitely _something a bit...off, right now. Which is funny, considering what the previous Christmases we've had have been like."

"Oh, I agree," he nods. "For starters we're together, for one thing, which is a lot better than things were for many Christmases before this. I mean, we're together in the sense that we're married, but we're also together in the sense of we're both in the same room - the same _county_, even!"

"Always a positive," she agrees. "Then there's the fact that neither of us - nor anyone else in our family, come to think of it - are in hospital over the Christmas period. In fact, I think the last serious injury in the family was Ron, when he shattered his collarbone on that mission in June. So we've gone _six whole months_ with no one in St. Mungo's!"

"Unless you count Audrey giving birth," he points out.

She considers this. "Six months with no one in the hospital except for positive reasons," she amends. "Good medical issues, as opposed to may be dying medical issues."

"And like you say, in this family, that's pretty good going," he says. "So: we're both together, and no one's in the hospital. Definitely a good Christmas."

"Oh, it's a good Christmas for other reasons, too," she adds. "We spent yesterday with the whole family; today on our own because it's our first Christmas together; Boxing Day going to Ron and Hermione's with Luna as well, and then there's the DA and Order reunion in the Hog's Head to ring in the New Year. So we get just the right mix of seeing people we love, but spending time alone, too."

"Which we're very lucky to get to do, after...everything," he says, sobering for a moment. She presses her cheek against his chest in response to this, and he loops his arm around her.

"We are _very _lucky," she murmurs. "I mean, not just for that reason, too. We have plenty of money, and enough food that we can afford to gorge ourselves on Christmas Day. We both do jobs that we love, and that's not going to change any time soon..."

"We have friends and family near and far who love us," he puts in. "I mean, at our wedding, it was standing room only. And there was a time that I would have _hated_ that, because I would have thought that it would just have been down to, you know, my fame. And your fame too - you're not bad at the whole Quidditch thing. But I was thinking, the other day, whilst we did have so many people there, it was only because we have that many people who care about us - and who we care about - who want us to be happy. And it was so nice that they all made time to come to our wedding and celebrate with us."

"It was," she smiles. "I love looking at our wedding album, because every single person there just looks so happy. Four, five years ago...everyone had this air of anxiety all the time. _All_ the time. If you look at Bill and Fleur's wedding photos - before all the...ah...events after the reception, with the Death Eaters, back when everyone was still in celebration mode...people look so worried and drawn and just..." She drifts off, waving a hand. "Sometimes I forget, you know. I forget just how terrifying the whole thing was; how we constantly lived in fear. _Constantly_. And then I remember, and I just...I have to lie down for a bit. Because the terror, when it comes back and overwhelms you, it's like there's a beast inside you trying to get out. And I remember how we'd have to live like that permanently, and I wonder _how_ we did it."

He reaches over and strokes her hair gently. "But we _did_ do it, and we _did _survive it, and we're here now and we don't have to do it again," he says. "That's what I tell myself, on those days. We're okay now."

"We are okay now," she agrees, snuggling into his side and enjoying the feel of his new Weasley jumper against her skin. "And then I feel so terribly ungrateful for feeling like I did today."

"How do you feel today?" he asks.

"You know, like we were saying before," she replies. "Like there's something missing. Something bigger than the people we lost - Fred, and Remus, and Tonks and all the others. It feels like _we're_ missing something, me and you."

"Do you think..." he begins, but then hesitates. She straightens out and looks him in the eye.

"Do I think what?" she asks.

"Do you think - and don't take this as me pushing things - but do you think that what we're missing is a child?" he asks. She's silent for so long that he's scared he's overstepped some invisible line somewhere, and wishes he could take back the words. But he can't, and they're there hanging in the room that's strewn with balls of wrapping paper and empty, gravy stained plates.

"I was thinking about that the other day myself," she says eventually. "Children, I mean."

"Oh?" he asks.

"I would like children," she says. "And I was thinking, you know, there's no reason for us not to start trying now. We're young, we're healthy, we've got enough money, we don't have to worry about employment...it almost seems stupid not to, doesn't it?"

"But?" he asks, knowing her well enough to know that there _is _a 'but' coming.

"But I don't want them _just_ yet, because I'm too happy with just me and you," she says. "I want to enjoy _our _together time, before we start adding babies to the mix, you know. I love having Teddy around, and all my brothers' children - don't get me wrong - but I'm thankful that, for now, it's just us at the end of the day. Is that bad?"

"Not at all," he replies immediately. "And you know, I think I know what's missing, having heard you say that."

She frowns slightly at him, and he elaborates. "We spent so long thinking that things were going to go wrong, or watching them go wrong, or recovering from them going wrong that it's only now that we can say, hey, let's have fun together. What's missing is that feeling. We're actually happy for the first time in years and it feels like we're missing some vital part of ourselves because we spent so long _not_ being happy," he says.

She considers this for a long moment. "I think you're right," she says. "But...I don't think I'd change anything that's happened. Everything that happened contributed to making me so happy with you today, Harry, and I wouldn't trade this happiness for anything."

"Me either," he says at once. "You make me happier than anyone in the world, Ginny Potter."

She smiles. "I love you," the both say simultaneously, and then, fingers linked, they sit together and watch the snow fall.

* * *

_This is for the finals of the Shot Put for the 2012 Hogwarts Games and also for the Snakes and Ladders Challenge with the character Ginny Weasley/Potter. It's also the end of this little collection of fics (especially now Christmastime is over!). Thank you very, very much to everyone who has reviewed this collection - I'm so grateful for your kind words, and hope you've enjoyed this final part :)_


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